There is a voice within me
longing to get out
"if only ... if only ... " it sighs
my life would turnabout

I remember a promise made
I remember a dream
I remember who I used to be
am I now as I seem?

While crawling through the ins and outs 
of the days and years now gone by
I've counted each and every blessing
in a world that made me cry

Wondering what tomorrow will bring
while struggling to make ends meet
Praying that my prayers are answered
before I'm in the street

Always facing an abyss,
facing the unknown
being told that only I can do it
and I must do it alone

Way out in the country, a young girl  sits in the shade of a big old oak tree on a hot summer day, the breezes making ripples in the tall green grass surrounding her;

She listens to the sound of a nearby stream and the sounds of the birds singing in the rustling trees, and watches the golden sunlight peeking through the huge canopy of green leaves high above her;

There is silence but for the sounds of nature surrounding her, and the voices of her mother and brothers through the big old open windows, calling to one another about this and that

and with a heart filled with peace and joy overflowing, she sings to the world around her, as if in a prayer,

Life is a Strange Weave

I have been thinking of all the wonderful people I have met in my lifetime, and all the new people I have met recently, who are such a pleasure to know ... and all the ways I have been blessed by them ...

Like anyone else, there are times when I get tired and wonder how I will ever find the solutions to things that are important, to accomplish what needs to be done with a deadline looming, and I pray that I am able to do it all before the man-made clock runs out on those certain things; but then I think of all the times when I was led to believe that the deadline had an abyss waiting to consume me, as people around me went into panic mode, and I was reminded of how important it is, as if I didn't already know ...tick tick tick TICK TICK TICK  ....

Sometimes I haven't been able to do all that I was told was necessary, in the time-frame allotted, but somehow I was given a reprieve, and somehow I made it through and came out the other side... 

Sometimes things don't work out as fast or as well  as I've prayed they would, bringing forth difficulties that I feel will break me, but then... suddenly, I look ... and that part is finished... 

 I look back and see the faces of those I encountered along the way... and the shimmering threads they provided that were spun with the solutions and gave that portion of the tapestry a special radiance 
 
Although we may not realize it, most people care more than we are led to believe ... and many times solutions come about not in straight, clear lines on pages that we can flip to see what is ahead... but in unforeseen ways ...

Life isn't an essay written on lined notebook paper, or a book with each chapter following another from a beginning to a conclusion. It's a tapestry woven one thread at a time, that we create by going through the ins and outs. It's composed of threads of many colors and textures, with the threads provided by the people in our lives who, many times, aren't even even aware of it. They become a part of the tapestry we weave that is our own individual life, in the great tapestry of life itself. We do the weaving, but it is the love from the people we meet that provide the threads ... and we are meeting new people who provide new threads, all the time.

I may not have the  thread I need for the portion of the tapestry I am weaving at this hour, but as I am looking for it, someone I know, or someone new, will provide it and I will continue with my weaving ...
 
There will come a time when a thread I am looking for isn't there... 

At that time, my tapestry will require only one more thread to being it together... a golden cord ... the one through which my life force has run here on earth ... It will be plucked and used to bind the final edge of my tapestry as it is added to The Great Tapestry in its Grand Design, according to the pattern which was already laid for it

And once again, there will be no abyss that others have warned me about. I will find myself in the presence of others who know me and will guide me. It will hang like stars in the night sky, and as I behold the Glory of all Creation,  I will look upon it and smile, because everyone and everything I ever loved, are with me, woven into it to last for all Eternity ...

I am grateful for all the times we shared... for the many people whose faces still smile at me when I close my eyes... for the laughter and the joy of just being able to do something to make someone else smile. I know all too well the way things pass away in the blink of an eye and how one small thing can make all the difference in the world. There is nothing like LOVE in all it's many expressions and degrees ... Until we meet again, wherever and whenever that may be, thank-you for the joy you have given me

YUM oatmeal

Today I made the most fantastic oatmeal....

1 cup OATMEAL

1  3/4 cups of  WATER ( some more cold water later on)

a few pinches of SEA SALT

2 soupsoonfuls, rounded, of RAW SUGAR

with  1/4 or so teaspoon of CINNAMON

 a few dashes of ground  NUTMEG

a handful of ground WALNUTS

AND half a handful of ground salted CASHEWS

                   [* I ground them up in my coffee bean grinder]

a clump of dark and half a clump of golden RAISINS

                   [ * I  put this all together at once, turned the heat to HIGH until it began to bubble, then turned it down almost to off and let it cook for another few minutes ... stirring it a bit, in my favorite little red non-stick pot without the lid on...]

HEAT IT until mushy and soft ( a few minutes)

ADD SOME COLD WATER   a bit at a time (and stir with a wooden spoon) to wanted consisteny ... ..............and edible temperature......................... and grab a bowl and spoon...
.... or eat it right from the pot lol  YUM (and healthy too!)

*If you make it firm, it's sort of like a big soft cookie  lol

You could even make it up in advance and heat it in the microwave... if you have one... I don't ...  because I'd rather not ... lol